7/2/2004 » Olympics, Profiles

Mohini Bhardwaj and Raj Bhavsar are finalists in the U.S. gymnastics team Olympic trials (via Not Really Indian). As with beauty pageants, there will probably be more diasporic desis in Olympics gymnastics than those from the motherland.

Bhardwaj, originally from Cincinnati, attended UCLA on a gymnastics scholarship and won the ’00 USGA national championship. A compact 4’10”, she’s a powerful gymnast (check out the video clips).

"She was the most talented recruit in the country and probably the most talented gymnast to come into college gymnastics," [coach] Kondos Field said. "But she was a handful."

At 25, Bhardwaj is older than most gymnastics contenders. She eventually tired of the commitment required, partying and wanting a life at UCLA:

After failing to make the Olympic games, after finishing ninth in the Olympic Trials, Bhardwaj began to lose interest in the sport... she did not enjoy the solitary world of club gymnastics. "My heart wasn''''''''t in it and I didn''''''''t really care... My social life was definitely my No. 1 priority when I was a freshman," she said. She stayed out late, didn''''''''t go to class, and allowed herself to slip out of the physical condition required to compete at the Division I level.

Video clips

• KNBC
• Access Hollywood
• World championships

Raj Bhavsar, originally from Houston, attended Ohio State and won junior all-round titles in ’97 and ’98. He’s 23, pre-med, and has the obligatory brother-who-works-at-Microsoft.

I really want to do this until my body says no more... And it is impossible to do medical school and train for an Olympics at the same time. I think that if I want to stick around until 2008, I have to think seriously about medicine as a career.

Damn, brutha, check out dem guns. That’s biceptual inspiration. And specialization happens early: he’s been doing this since age 4, and probably Bhardwaj as well. There’s an appealing combination of asceticism and muscularity about this sport, but the hours are terrible :)

The final men’s and women’s Olympics cuts will be announced July 18th on NBC.